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Sorghum producers received positive news this week, as a resoundingly favorable vote on the sorghum checkoff referendum assures the industry can continue to back aggressive export market development programs.

News of the successful referendum came as U.S. Grains Council staff and consultants were on a “reverse mission” in Spain and Portugal to capitalize on progress made in January when an Iberian buyers team visited Kansas and Texas to explore U.S. sorghum production.

A combination of high ingredient prices and aggressive U.S. Grains Council marketing efforts is producing renewed sales of U.S. sorghum, corn gluten feed (CGF), and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) into the European Union (EU).

Sorghum shipments, primarily bound for Spain, with smaller shipments to France and the Netherlands, stood at 458,000 metric tons (18 million bushels) as of March 10. Outstanding sales totaled an additional 223,000 tons (8.8 million bushels).

The U.S. Grains Council built on its long-standing presence at the Global Grains Conference to promote U.S. sorghum and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) to almost 900 grain traders and feed manufacturers.

The conference, held in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 16-18, 2010, offered the Council an opportunity to begin educating new markets about DDGS.

When most people think of whole grain, multi-grain or gluten-free baked products, sorghum is not the first ingredient that comes to mind. But all that may change with ADM’s introduction of sorghum flour for gluten-free and multi-grains applications. The product, which is made in the form of both white and whole grain white sorghum flour, made its debut at this year’s Institute of Food Technologists Expo in Chicago where attendees learned that sorghum flour can be used to make anything from gluten-free cookies to gluten-free pancakes, cakes and more.

Europe’s slowed economy has presented challenges for European feed buyers, but also potential opportunities for U.S. farmers and ethanol producers, particularly for the export of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS). Capitalizing on this window of opportunity, the U.S. Grains Council recently conducted DDGS marketing workshops in Dublin, Madrid and Rotterdam in an effort to introduce buyers and sellers to one another and to market the United States’ ability to meet the needs of each country.

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